Southern California Kindergarten Conference March 2013 1 TK - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Southern California Kindergarten Conference March 2013 1

TK – Collaboration Is Key SCKC – March 2013  Judy Crenshaw judycrenshaw@roadrunner.com retired from Pleasant Valley School District in Ventura County  Ada Hand adajhand@gmail.com retired from CA Department of Education & former K teacher in Sonoma County  Debra Weller dwteller@cox.net TK teacher from Capistrano USD 2

Kindergarten Readiness Act Overview Law was passed in 2010 with two years to get ready.  Nov 1 of 2012 ‐ 13 school year  Oct 1 of 2013 ‐ 14 school year  Sep 1 of 2014 ‐ 15 school year and each year thereafter  If a district elects to enroll children prior to their eligibility, they may not claim ADA until the child turns 5. These children must have a Continuation Form on file. 3

Overview, con’t  In 2012 ‐ 13, districts are required to offer TKP for age ‐ eligible children, being reimbursed by ADA.  The program must be age & developmentally appropriate.  Parents are not required to enroll their age ‐ eligible children in TKP, but these children will not be age ‐ eligible for K until the following school year. 4

Overview, con’t Implementation varies with some districts offering:  PreK ‐ TK combo classes  TK ‐ K combo  Separate TK – may have children from one school or several  Varied class size & with early/late bird schedules  No TK at all – districts claim parents haven’t wanted it  Doing all at once – Sep ‐ Oct ‐ Nov birthdates in 2012 ‐ 13 5

Transitional Kindergarten Curriculum San Juan Capistrano School District Debra Weller 6

Bathgate Elementary, Mission Viejo, CA  I have 34 children, no aides, an early bird/late owl schedule. There are 3 TK teachers in our district.  We are using Dr. Debbi Keeler’s curriculum found at www.californiakindergartenassociation.org  We meet on the first Tues. of each month to plan for the next month.  We share our ideas through Edmodo, Transitional Kindergarten CUSD  The curriculum evolves every day. We use Math Their Way, Weekly Reader and MESS for science. 7

Daily Schedule  The Early Birds arrive at 8:15 and dismiss at 12:08  The Late Owls arrive at 9:45 and dismiss at 1:38  The overlap time, when all 34 are in the room at the same time, is 103 minutes total.  The children have a 30 minute recess at 10:20 and this is my duty free time.  On Wed. all children come from 8:15 ‐ 12:08. It is a staff development or grade level meeting day.  We go to the school library on Wed. for a half hour. 8

Classroom Environment Calendar Literacy Center 9

Classroom Environment Color Coded Cubbies Teacher Work Supplies 10

Classroom Environment Playhouse Puppet Theater 11

Classroom Environment Writing and Listening Library and Writing Center Center 12

Classroom Environment Easel and Art Area Math Bins 13

Tools for Organization Snack Baskets Water and Sanitizer Station 14

Tools for Organization Photo Name Cards Choosing Sticks 15

Transitional Kindergarten Curriculum Pleasant Valley School District Created by: Judy Crenshaw and Sharon Harada August 2012 16

Curriculum Guidelines  Has to be in the head and the heart before it can be in the brain  Active learning (kids are involved through singing and movement)  Learning has to be meaningful (has to make sense to them)  Curriculum should be thematic (kids mush it all together)  Environment supportive of talking (broad rich vocabulary makes strong readers) 17

Preschool Foundations and Common Core State Standards 18

Backwards Mapping Preschool Learning Foundations are the BRIDGE to Kindergarten  Around 48 months of age ( end of first year of preschool )  Around 60 months of age ( end of second year of preschool ) Describes learning situations and development and skill  learning with appropriate support Common Core State Standards  Kindergarten Describes educational goals for children to become  constructive classroom citizens 19

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Designing Curriculum  Began with themes that coordinated with district ‐ adopted Language Arts Curriculum monthly 3 ‐ 4 week cycle  Allowed TK teachers to be able to plan with Kindergarten team at schools  Attention given to Williams Act – guarantees each student have access to adopted curriculum  Designed units of study with active involvement, movement, and relationships at the core 21

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Assessment Tools ESGI – Also used in Kindergarten 24

Report Card Using Kindergarten Standards ‐ Based Report Card  Transitional Kindergarten is the first of a two year kindergarten program. The marks below are ratings to describe how well the student is making progress towards meeting the end of kindergarten standards .  + Strength: Strong progress toward meeting kindergarten proficiency ^ On Target: Developing skills toward meeting kindergarten proficiency Weakness: ‐ Little development towards meeting kindergarten proficiency x Not addressed this reporting period 25

September Themes ‐ Understanding of Self, The Five Senses, body parts, emotions, using tools in the classroom, making new friends and rules. Using and sharing Free Choice math bins 26

September 27

Journal Writing Mondays we meet in a circle to pass the Story Stick. Only the child holding the stick gets to speak & all others are respectful listeners. This is a good way to practice oral language. The children talk about their weekend activities. I model writing & sounding out words. I play classical music to remind children not to talk. They write in their journals and draw a picture to match the words. Journals go home once a month with a writing rubric to help parents understand progress and goals. 28

October Themes ‐ My family and Pets, Five Senses, Sorting by shape and color 29

Classroom Changes The first six week = boot camp. No parents were allowed into the room. Good ‐ byes were said at the door. Children were taught to be autonomous. A monthly Home Activity Folder was explained at Back to School Night. Parent Volunteers help at small group centers, overlap time and library. 14 parents signed up. Room Parents were selected and a class directory was made. We met with our 5 th grade buddies for the first time. I started assessments. The TK team had a release day to develop a TK report card. 30

Science Theme Sensory Station Sense of Touch 31

Centers are on Tuesday and Thursday ‐ I teach reading and phoneme awareness. The parents teach science, social studies, math and art centers. Literacy Center Math Sorting by color 32

Family Theme Our Families Family Picture Sort 33

October Art Painting Pumpkins Pumpkin Patch Mural 34

Project Learning Family Project Wall Sorting Salty and Sweet food 35

Encouraging Literacy Babies Book Loving Library Books 36

Science Theme ‐ Bones Thinking Map on Bones Dog Bone Printing 37

November We had parent conferences. It was nice to be able to encourage parents to help their children at home. I showed them interactive learning games to play. The Themes for November were: My Home ‐ We studied about types of homes, what objects are in a home and patterns. We learned about having compassion for our friends . 38

Science Theme We learned about leaves Tissue Collage changing colors 39

Social Studies Pilgrim Children 34 birthdays in November! 40

Native Americans Drawing what we know Weaving 41

Seasonal Art Work Every month we make a hand print Turkey hats memory book page 42

Studying Nature Studying leaves Tracing and drawing leaves 43

Math Making and copying Leaf Patterns patterns 44

Learning about Seasons Season Picture Sort Drawing about Seasons 45

December The theme for December was Family Celebrations. We also studied about different kinds of trees and how animals prepare for winter. We practiced counting and writing numbers to 10. The alphabet and phonemic awareness is ongoing. The families were invited to share holiday traditions. We had a parent/child reading morning and the children sang some holiday songs . 46

Science Structure of trees Nocturnal Animals 47

Holiday Projects Easel Painting Designing Thank you notes 48

Class Activities Becoming number experts Balancing like a squirrel 49

How do animals prepare for winter? Squirrel Mural Watercolor resist squirrels 50

Class Activities Reindeer hats Elf hats 51